Roller and shaft assembly



NOV. 29, Q F sMlTH ROLLER AND SHAFT ASSEMBLY Filed Feb. 26, 1952 .F/Eti.

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Unite fates Patent ROLLER AND SHAFT ASSEMBLY Coleman F. Smith,Evansville, Ind., assignor to International Harvester Company, acorporation of New Jersey Application February 26, 1952, Serial No.273,525

9 Claims. (Cl. 1847.5)

This invention relates generally to a roller and shaft assembly and moreparticularly to a roller and shaft which are fabricated together in oneoperation.

In the mass production factories of today, material handling andassembly operations represent a substantial. portion of themanufacturing costs of an article. For this reason every effort is beingmade to decrease the number of assembly operations required and theamount of material handled. It is well known in the art to support amovable object by a roller and shaft assembly, and such assemblies arebeing installed in many mass production articles. Heretofore, separateoperations have been required to first insert the roller on the shaft,and then to secure stop means on the end of the shaft to prevent theroller from working its way off that shaft. The roller, shaft and stopmeans are normally stored in separate containers on the assembly line inorder that they are readily accessible to an assembler. The presentinvention provides a roller and shaft assembly which requires lessmaterial handling and fewer assembly operations than the conventionalroller and shaft assembly.

- One object of the present invention is to provide an assembly in whicha roller and shaft are fabricated together as one article.

. Another object of the invention is to provide a roller and shaft whichcan be assembled in one operation.

2,724,867 Patented Nov. 29, 1955 "ice the invention, Figs. 1 and 2 showan article of manufacture which comprises a shaft 10 and a roller 11.The shaft 10 is generally cylindrical shaped with end 12 having itsouter edge 13 beveled slightly. Spaced inwardly from end 12 is anannular shoulder 14 which divides the outer surface of the shaft 10 intoa bearing portion 15 and a mounting portion 16. These two portions areshown of equal diameter but could be constructed of unequal diameters ifdesired. End 17 of the shaft is inclined inwardly toward the centerthereof. The outer edge of end 17 is provided with a small'a'nnularflange 18 which protrudes above bearing portion 15.

Roller 11 is constructed in the shape of a flat disc having both sidesof its outer edge 19 curved smoothly inwardly. The central portion ofthe roller 11 is provided Another object of the invention is to providea roller and shaft assembly which does not require separate stop meansfor maintaining the roller on the shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide an assembly in which theshaft is provided with an annular flange having substantially the samediameter as the internal bore of the roller so that the roller'can beforced theresection of material which may be easily broken by forcingthe roller onto the shaft.

Another object of the invention is to provide a roller and shaftassembly which is economical to manufacture. These and other objects ofthe invention will be pointed out in more detail hereinafter, or will beapparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferedform of the present invention is clearly shown.

in the drawings:

Fig. l is an end view of a roller and shaft fabricated as one article.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal view, partly in section, of the roller andshaft of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal view, partly in section, of the roller andshaft showing the roller being forced onto the shaft.

Fig. 4 is a longitudinal view, partly in section, of the roller andshaft showing the roller in operating position.

Referring to the drawings for a detailed description of with astrengthening hub 20.which projects toward the shaft 10. A centrallydisposed bore 21 extends through the roller 11 and has substantially thesame diameter as the outer surface of annular flange 18 of the shaft 10.As best seen' in Fig. 2, the shaft 10 and roller 11 are fabricated asone article and are joined by a small section or web 22 of material. Thejoining web 22 of the material is only a few thousandths of an inch inthickness but has been exaggerated in the drawing for purposes ofclarity. The joining web 22 is disposed between the outer edge oftheflange 18 and the inner edge of hub 20, and may be a continuoussection extending completely around the periphery of the flange 18, ormay be a plurality of short sections spaced around the periphery of theflange.

It has been'found that a suitable material for the shaft 10 and roller11 is a high impact plastic, such polystyrene, polyethyhene, ethylcellulose, cellulose nitrate, nylon or etc. Plastic is adaptable formolding so that the shaft 10 and roller 11 can be integrally molded inone operation. After molding, the roller 11 and shaft 10 is ready forassembling. In Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 of the drawing, a portion of a frame 23is shown in section. This frame isprovided with an aperture therethroughinto which the beveled end 12 of the shaft 10 is secured with shoulder14 disposed against the frame. A force is then applied inwardly againstthe outer surface of the roller 11 as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3.This force breaks the joining web 22 between the roller 11 and shaft 10and forces the roller 11 over the flange 18. In Fig. 3 the roller 11 hasbeen forced part way over the flange 18, whereasin Fig. 4 the roller hasbeen forced completely over the flange 18 onto the bearing portion 15 ofthe shaft 10.

Joining web 22. is of such small size that it breaks easily and smoothlyso that the roller 11 will slide over flange 18. A suitable tool ormachine may be used for forcing the roller 11 over the flange 18 inorder to maintain the axial bore 21 in alignment with the shaft 10during the assembling operation. After roller 11 has been forced ontothe bearing surface 15 of the shaft, it will be free to rotate thereonsince the bore 21 is of larger diameter than bearing portion 15.Shoulder 14 will position the shaft 10 in reference to the frame 23 andwill prevent the roller 11 from rubbing against the frame. It iscontemplated that a drawer or other movable object be supported upon theouter edge 19 of the roller 11, and since flange 18 is substantially thesame size as bore 21, the flange will prevent the roller 11 from workingits way off the shaft 10.

From the foregoing description, it can be readily understood that theroller and shaft assembly described has many advantages for massproduction work. Only one set of molding dies and one molding operationare required to fashion all the elements of the roller and shaftassembly. There will be a minimum amount of material handling requiredsince the complete assembly consists of only one article. The roller 11can be easily and quickly assembled onto the shaft by one simpleoperation. Flange 18 will retain the roller in its operating positionupon the shaft 10 so that separate stop means are not required. a

While a preferred form of the invention has been shown and described, itwill be obvious to those skilled 'in the-art that it is not so limited,but is susceptible to various changes and modifications withoutdeparting from the spirit thereof, and it is desired that only suchlimitations shall be 'placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior artor as are specifically set .forth in the appended claims. i

What is claimed is:

'1. An article 'of manufacture comprising a shaft and a roller having anaxial bore therethrough, said shaft and said roller connected togetherand maintained in axial alignment by a web section, said web sectionformed about the outer periphery of said shaft and themarginal edges ofsaid axial bore'of said roller, said shaft and said roller adapted to beassembled by breaking said web section and inserting said shaft intosaid bore.

2. An-article of manufacture comprising a roller and a shaft, said shaftbeing provided with a projection which extends past the outer diameterof the shaft, said roller having an axial bore which is large enough toslip over said projection onto said shaft, and a thin web sectionwhich-joins said roller and shaft and which is easily broken when theroller is forced over said projection, said thin web section formedabout the circumference of said projection and 'the marginal edges ofsaid axial bore of said roller. I

'3. An article of manufacture comprising a shaft and a roller, saidshaft being provided with an annular flange having a larger outsidediameter than said shaft, said roller having'an axial bore ofsubstantially the same diameter as said flange, and a thin web sectiondisposed about the periphery of said flange and one marginal edge ofsaid axial bore of said roller which joins the roller and shaft andwhich may be broken by forcing the roller over said flange onto saidshaft.

- 4. An article of manufacture comprising a shaft and a roller, saidshaft being provided with an annular shoul do? and aspaced annularflange each of which has a larger-outside diameter than said shaft, saidroller having an axial bore of'substantially the same diameter as saidflange, and 'a weak web'section disposed about the periphery of saidflange and one marginal edge of said axial bore of-said roller whichjoins the-roller and shaft and which maybe easily broken by'forcing theroller over said flange onto said shaftto its operating'positionbetweensaid flange and said shoulder.

5. An article of manufacture comprising an integral shaft and roller,said shaft being provided with a bearing portion and an annularflange'having a larger outside diameter than the-bearing portion, saidroller having an axial bore of substantially the same diameter as saidflange, said roller being joined to said flange with said bore in axialalignment with said shaft by a weak web section disposed about theperiphery of said flange and one marginal edge of said axial bore ofsaid roller, said weak web portion being adapted to be easily broken asthe roller is forced over said flange onto said bearing portion.

6. In an article of manufacture, a one piece plastic molding comprisinga roller, a shaft and a joining web section, said shaft 'having abearing portion, said roller being provided with an axial bore which isheld in axial alignment with said bearing portion by said web section,said web section 'being disposed about the peripheryof said shaft andone marginal edge of said axial bore of said roller, said web portionbeing adapted to'break easily and smoothly along the inner edge ofsaidroller as the roller is forced inwardly onto said bearing portion.

7. In an article of manufacture, a one piece plastic molding comprisinga roller, a shaft and a joining web section, said shaft being providedwith a bearing portion and an annular fiangehaving a larger outsidediameter than said bearing portion, said roller having an axial bore ofsubstantially the same diameter as said flange, said roller being joinedto said flange with said bore in axial alignment with said shaft by saidweb section which is disposed about the periphery of said flange and onemarginal edge of said axial bore of said roller, said web section havinga small cross-sectional area whereby'it is adaptedto be broken easilyand smoothly along said one marginal edge of said axial bore of saidroller.

' 8. Themethod of making a roller and shaft assembly which comprisesfabricating a roller and shaft as one article with a thin web connectingthe inner periphery atone end of said roller to the periphery at one endof said shaft, and then forcing the roller toward said shaft wherebysaid web is broken and the roller is moved onto said shaft.

9. The method of manufacturing a plastic roller and shaft assembly whichcomprises molding a plastic material intoan integral roller and shaftwhich are connected by a thin web section which is formed about theperiphery of said shaft at one end thereof and about the inner peripheryof said roller at one end thereof, and then forcing the'roller towardsaid shaft whereby said thin web section is smoothly broken and theroller is moved onto said shaft.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

